Category: Archive

Acidic Murray a River of Death

admin /12 January, 2008

STRETCHES of the Murray River are turning into the corrosive equivalent of battery acid, in further evidence the devastating drought is causing more harm to the nation’s iconic watercourse, reports The Australian .

Paula D’Santos tests water from the Murray River at Bottle Bend, about 20km north of Mildura. Picture: David Geraghty

Scientists are warning that acid sulphate soils are turning river banks and billabongs into death traps for fish and birds and hazards for humans.

It is impossible for animals to survive NSW’s Bottle Bend lagoon, which now has a pH — or acidity — level dropping as low as 1.8 — equivalent to the sulphuric acid found in car batteries. And it is corrosive to the touch.

The waterway is just one of dozens of sites throughout South Australia, NSW and Victoria which falling water levels have turned into aquatic graveyards.

Solar Cities event for Adelaide

admin /12 January, 2008

he International Solar Cities Congress is part of the International Solar Cities Initiative and the 2008 Congress will be the third solar cities congress.     The objectives of the International Solar Cities Initiative are to support UN energy and climate policies by stimulating the interest of cities into becoming benchmark cities that commit to ambitious Continue Reading →

Deep Green candidate for US president

admin /12 January, 2008

Kucinich on the Issues A look at Dennis Kucinich’s environmental platform and record Dennis Kucinich. Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has been active and outspoken on a wide range of environmental and sustainability issues during the decade he’s represented Ohio’s 10th district in the U.S. House. His efforts have earned him a 92 percent lifetime Continue Reading →

Modest rise in NSW greenhouse emissions

admin /10 January, 2008

From Sydney Morning Herald   GREENHOUSE gas emissions from power generation in NSW last year were about 7 per cent higher than in 1990. The rise indicates the state is within limits to meet the national Kyoto Protocol commitment of an 8 per cent rise on 1990 levels by 2012, though if NSW builds a Continue Reading →

Exhausted – and the worst is still to come

admin /10 January, 2008

Two Australian kayakers who are nearing the end of their epic voyage across the Tasman now face the most dangerous part of their journey.

Investors serious about renewables

admin /9 January, 2008

At the beginning of each year, as the renewable energy industry looks back on its progress over the previous 12 months, the phrase "tipping point" always seems to enter the discussion. But how will we know when renewables have truly hit that tipping point?

Will one quarter of the world’s electricity come from renewable resources? Will more investment go into clean energy than into the fossil energy industries? There’s no agreed upon standard for how to define a turning tide, but one thing is certain: 2007 clearly proved that there is a major change underway in how the world produces and consumes energy.

"If 2007 isn’t the tipping point, we are close to that," says Janet Sawin, Director of the Energy and Climate Change program at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC. "This has been a truly remarkable year, and we’re seeing impressive development figures worldwide."

According to a REN21 2007 Renewables Global Status Report due out in February, there are now 237 gigawatts (GW) of electrical generation capacity from renewable resources online around the world.